


Angel with a Thousand Faces

by TerraRising



Series: Flipping the Hourglass [2]
Category: Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Genre: Angst and Feels, F/F, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Hartwin, M/M, Oblivious Harry, Pining Eggsy, Self-Hatred, Self-Sacrifice, Sorry Not Sorry, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-06
Updated: 2015-05-06
Packaged: 2018-03-29 06:42:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3886234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TerraRising/pseuds/TerraRising
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eggsy has thrown his future away in hope that the past could be better, could be enough. Harry has no idea who this stranger is, could never know how much this man has given up for him. And yet he feel so. Familiar.<br/>Can sorta be a stand-alone (if you're okay with being a little confused), but first story in the series provides context.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Angel with a Thousand Faces

**Author's Note:**

> Kind of short, but here's the beginning of what might be a long (or short) journey. I meant to get on this earlier but exams and then starting a new job ate up my time. Here's hoping the rush didn't make it completely suck.

There’s flashes of light, bright beyond his eyelids, interspersed between periods of disorienting obscurity. He feels like his synapses are firing off in overdrive. Eggsy tries to right himself, to retain some type of composure but it’s a futile effort. He’s thrown around in that cramped space, limbs inadvertently hitting buttons, joints knocking into this and that, and then jerked away before bruises even have the time to form.

 

Eggsy forces his eyes open, watches through the opening of the wide-flung door that he had never had the chance to close (it's a miracle he hasn't been flung out entirely, but some strange force keeps him inside the confines of the fake phone booth) as scenes flicker rapidly and day chases nights a millions times within a single second. He watches as the very building around him seems to crumple away, a hurried time-stop film as the bricks are unraveled, the structure deconstructed before his straining eyes. Other buildings spring up to take their place before they too crumple away neatly to give way to smaller buildings and trees that seem to grow in seconds to fill in the gaps.

 

He breathes in, chokes, forces himself to take one breath and then another, his lungs burn and barely cooperate. He tries to focus on something else, take his mind off the air that seems so reluctant to enter his lungs and all too eager to escape leaving him painfully breathless.

 

There’s the barely discernable chatter of hundreds of strangers; he can pick out bits and pieces in English, French, Italian, and even German. Bursts of laughter are replaced by sobs, shouting gave way to cheers.

 

Through it all, his ears ring with the tail end of Roxy’s scream.

 

He wonders if it would be easier if this was like the movies, if he just floated around in the nothingness while tiny lights flashed and beeped until it was all over. But his life has never been and never would be like one of those movies.

 

His life was never that simple, never that easy.

 

But that was good, that was alright, the pain and hardship reminded him that death had not come yet, could yet be pushed off. He was alive.

 

He was alive, and maybe, just maybe, he thinks as the machine finally splutters to a stop, as the walls disintegrate around him as if they had never been there at all, maybe he would land in a place, in a time where _Harry_ was also alive.

 

For a second, his heart stops cold and seizes painfully at the thought that when his eyes adjust and focus again, he would be greeted with the horrified face of Gawain, that the jumble of sound in his head would sort itself out and he would be welcomed back to ‘sanity’ by Roxy’s pained accusations and Merlin’s telling silence.

 

He stumbles as he finally lands solidly on his feet, barely managing to stay upright and save his suit from what seemed to be the early morning dew. He breathes in deeply, gratefully. The air is fresh, crisp, smelling of lilacs and the muggy scent of wet trees; it’s the most welcoming breath of air Eggsy has ever taken in. He lets his breathing ground him, _in, out, in, out, in, out._

 

Blinking the last of the flickering images out of his eyes like a stray eyelash, he finally takes in his surroundings. Two young boys in dated clothing are staring at him, eyes wide, mouths agape, bodies slightly turned to shield a little girl who stands tucked shyly between them.

 

Eggsy wonders if he had just _appeared_ out of thin air for them. It would certainly explain the stunned looks he was being treated to. Or a man appearing as a strange blue box crumbled away would also do the trick.

 

He pulls on his best smile as he turns towards them, smoothing his hands over his suit on reflex while making sure none of his weapons were visible, “Hello.”

 

The boys crowded closer around the little girl, subconsciously seeking to hide her from view, to protect her from harm. The little girl stares at him with wide doe-eyes and sticks her left thumb into her mouth, sucking on it as her eyes stay riveted on the strange man who seemed to have just _popped into existence_. Maybe, she thinks, maybe he’s magic. A fairy prince of old like grandma tells her about at bedtime.

 

Birds chirped and the sun had just barely cleared the top of the trees on the far end of the clearing they were standing in, children and man were at an impasse. It was going to be a long day.

**Author's Note:**

> Rough Time-line:  
> 1997 – Eggsy and Harry’s first meeting upon his father’s death; Eggsy is 6 years old, Harry 35  
> 2014 – Eggsy and Harry meet again and Eggsy joins Kingsman as his candidate; Eggsy is 23, Harry is 52 when he dies in the Valentine incident  
> 2032 – Eggsy is 41, it has been 18 years since Harry’s death; Eggsy does the unthinkable and presses the button
> 
> Let me know what ya'll think in the comments, cheers!


End file.
